Smokey Fire heads one-two finish for Sid Attard in Play the King

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Sid Attard saddled the first two finishers in Sunday’s $224,800 Play the King Stakes, Smokey Fire and Jungle Wave, who were separated by just a neck at the finish of the seven-furlong turf sprint, which serves as a prep for the Sept. 19 Woodbine Mile.

Smokey Fire stalked the leaders Fatal Bullet and Jungle Wave, who joined Fatal Bullet on the engine after a slow opening quarter of 23.02 seconds. Smokey Fire needed the entire length of the stretch to get by them, and he got home on top in a final time of 1:20.83. Fatal Bullet finished another neck back in third, while favored Signature Red, another Attard trainee, wound up fifth in the seven-horse field.

It was the third second consecutive Play the King score for Attard, who sent out Jungle Wave to win the Grade 2 stakes last year, and Just Rushing in 2008. Smokey Fire collected $144,000 for the Jim Dandy Stable.

Winning rider Jono Jones said the key to the race was when Patrick Husbands on Jungle Wave went after Fatal Bullet on the front end, something which he didn’t want to do.

“Sid told me to stalk with this horse, so I didn’t want to disobey him,” said Jones. “If Patrick didn’t do that, I think we would have been in trouble. It worked out perfect for me after that. He was determined to win.”